Chris Raider leaned against a piece of wreckage from Longsword Two. As he played back the decent into this wasteland, he recalled that a Seraph impacted into the fighter, and sheared off the cockpit from the rest of the ship. "Uuuuuggghhhh." Raider turned his head slowly, expecting the worst, but it relieved him when he saw that it was only Henderson waking up. "What'd I miss?" he groaned. Raider turned his head. "The Seraph fighter tearing off the cockpit, me being set on fire, and the whole damn crash." A few burn marks remained on his uniform. "I was always told that being set on fire would hurt," Raider continued, "but I never thought it would hurt this much." As if on cue, the left leg of his pants burst into flame. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" He yelled as he slapped at his leg. The fire only spread. "Get some water!"Henderson looked around. "Uhh. I don't think we have any." "Damn everything that has happened in the last few months!" Raider screamed to the sky as the fire spread up his back. "Damn this fucking planet!" "Oh wait," Henderson interrupted Raider's screaming to the dark, somewhat night sky, "I found the fire extinguisher." Henderson then threw the extinguisher at Raider, catching him in the back and forcing him to the ground. The fire disappeared entirely. "How did that happen?" Raider groaned as he pulled himself onto his knees. Henderson put his hand up to his chin. "I never thought it worked that way." "Just shut the fuck up."

Eric fired his SM8B nonstop at a Brute until it melted into a pile of crap that oozed and bubbled. The multipurpose rifle fired plasma rounds more powerful than the Covenant's plasma weapons. Reverse engineering was very useful now that Earth was gone, along with a majority of the human race. Hell, at least he was still alive. The remaining human forces retreated from the air battlefield and back to the captured Covenant infantry base the human forces had named "Base Zulu". It appeared the Covenant wanted to retake it, as always in history. But now, human history was almost to an end as the Covenant kept pouring in. Multiple dropships filled the sky as wave after wave came at the base. There was no more win or lose. It was win, or the human race becomes on the "extinct" list. Plasma and bullets were scattering in all different directions. The nonstop deaths had become uncountable. Bodies flew everywhere in the brawl, mostly the Grunts standing next to the Spartan. A Marine screamed as a Gold-armored Elite thrusted his sword into him. As a last resort, the young Private pulled the pin from a frag grenade and held it up to the Elite's face. The alien tried to throw the human before the grenade blew, but was too late. Even the Brutes standing nearby were blown off their feet from the force. At least the Marine took those bastards with him. Eric managed to see Sergeant Kirk Field lift a Grunt off its feet and hurl it at a group of the small aliens three meters away. The bowling pin joke applied as everyone of them flew in different directions (some even few back into the Covenant dropships the had just departed from). "Go Sergeant!" a Helljumper cheered as he raised his fist high. His little cheering line was cut short when a Covenant grenade launcher sent his body parts scattering…

"Remove the damn launcher from the damn locker!" Raider ordered Henderson as three Banshees moved closer to the two. Just an hour after Henderson removed the fire on Raider's uniform, three Banshees discovered them and rained hell on them. Well, they at least tried to anyway. Every shot was way off target. But being stranded in Covenant controlled territory was not part of Raider's agenda. "I sometimes wish I stayed in the Corps, it was a lot more fun," Raider whispered as Henderson held the launcher unsteadily. Raider wasn't gonna have any of that right now. In fact, if he hadn't have lost his right arm, he would still be with the Marines. That was when he became a combat pilot. He obviously couldn't hold a gun with only a near-crippled left arm and hand. There was really no way of explaining how he could handle at least ten Seraph fighters alone. The only problem was that he needed a gunner, and so came Henderson. Raider lifted the launcher onto a steady angle so Henderson could fire. The first rocket was a direct hit, consuming the Banshee entirely. No wreckage would ever be found. The second projectile missed the real target slightly, but took out one of the second Banshees' wing pods. The craft tumbled and lost control as it did wingovers. The third retreated when the pilot saw the other Banshees destroyed. "Damn! I was hoping we could get all three before they could leave and call for help." "No wait, it's coming back!" Henderson yelled as he pointed the launcher in the enemy fighter's direction. Together, they aimed it perfectly and launched the third high-explosive projectile. The Banshee banked left, but the rocket seemed to home in on it. The third and final display of fireworks appeared in the "night" sky (shoot, the Covenant might call it day). What seemed like a signal flare appeared on the horizon from the explosion…

The Battle for Base Zulu was coming to a close, with the Marines having the advantage of several new Longsword pilots come in and destroy the enemy dropships before they could land. And now ammunition was no longer a problem with the retaken base. With the extra plasma weapons from a Covenant hanger near the base, the fighters had been rigged with a type of 'plasma chaingun', and several fuel rod cannons. There was still the catch, more than one hundred humans were killed in that battle, and a Longsword destroyed. Maybe the fighting will end soon, Eric thought, maybe we can finally have peace. But that won't happen until three more months go by. It won't happen until a day of reckoning…

"We've got to get out of here now!" Henderson screamed as he ran to Raider from the small army of Covenant approaching them. Raider looked up from the Banshee that crashed the night before. It was still operational, except for the fact that the craft was missing the wing pod that was blown of. Lucky enough, it could still get off the ground, but couldn't reach an altitude of one hundred feet. Raider turned to see Henderson sprinting for his life. "Speak clearly boy!" Henderson stopped to catch his breath. "The…The Covenant are…The Covenant are heading our way. Advise we get the hell out of here." Raider squinted his eyes in the direction Henderson came from. On the horizon, all sorts of Covenant vehicles appeared. The horizon became slightly distorted. He pointed at the Banshee next to him. "I got this working, we can get away from them with this," Raider said calmly, gesturing to the Banshee. "Sure, make me look like a fool," Henderson replied and turned away, annoyed at Raider's ability to be calm in times of crisis. "Damn you you fu…" Henderson's sentence was cut off mid-syllable as the repaired Banshee lifted off and sped away. He lifted his fist into the air and shouted, "DAMN YOU RAIDER!!!" Raider heard the echo of Henderson's voice. He was glad to be rid of that asshole. They never once were friends. Ever. Raider pulled the throttle as wide as he dared in fear that the aircraft might collapse…

Henderson dropped his fist. The Covenant were getting closer by the second. There was no place to hide nearby, so he moved near the Longsword wreckage and pretended to be dead. The Covenant got closer with every heartbeat. He felt cold metal touch his face as took a breath. Then an arm reached out and pulled him off the ground. Henderson knew he wouldn't escape when he opened his eyes and looked onto the face of a red-armored Elite.